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Copy 1 



REPORT 



OF 



SPECIAL com:m:ittee i 



APPOINTED TO EXAMINE INTO 



CONDITION, AFFAIRS AND PROGRESS 



OP THE 



ll[W YORK CINTRIIL PARK. 



Transmitted to the Legislature January 25, 1861. 






CHARLES VAN BENTHUTSEN, PRINTER. 
1861. 




STATE OF NEW YORK. 



No 18. 






^, IN SENATE, 

January 25, 1861. 



REPORT 

Of Special Committee appointed to examine into Condition, 
Affairs and Progress of the New York Central Park. 

To the Senate of the State of JYew York : 

The special committee appointed in pursuance of a resolution 
passed by the Senate on the 14th day of April last, in the follow- 
ing words, to wit : " Resolved, That a committee of three be ap- 
pointed to make examination of the affairs, condition and progress 
of the New York Central Park, to hold their sessions during the 
recess of the Legislature, and to report to the Senate at its next 
annual meeting; the said committee to have power to send for 
persons and papers, and the said committee not to receive compen- 
sation for said. service," respectfully 

REPORT : 

That with the view of ascertaining the reasons that induced the 
Senate to appoint your committee, they caused search to be made 
in the files of the Senate for allegations, or specific charges, 
against the conduct of the affairs of the Board of Commissioners 
of the Central Park, but found none on the subject. On 7th day 
of June last, as soon as practicable after the committee could 
make arrangements for proceeding with its business, the commit- 
tee addressed the following letter to the Board of Commissioners 
of the Central Park : 

[Senate, No. 18.J 1 



2 [Senate 

"New York, Jime 1th, 1860. 
"Hon. R. M. Blatchford, President 

of the Board of Central Park Commissioners^ §x : 
"Dear Sir — I have the honor to infonn you that the committee 
appointed by the Senate ' to investigate the affairs and condition 
of the Central Park,' will meet in this city on Saturday, June 16th, 
at 12 o'clock, noon, at the office of the undersigned, No. 54 Ex- 
change Place, for organization. 

"Very respectfully, your ob't servant, 

" JNO. McLEOD MURPHY, Chairman:' 

To which the following answer was, the next day, received : 

" New York, June 8th, 1860. 
"Hon. J. McLeod Murphv, Chairman, &fc.: 

"Dear Sir — I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of yes- 
terday. I communicated it to our Board, and they have thereupon 
adopted the resolution of which I enclose to you a copy. I shall 
be happy to receive from your committee at any time an indica- 
tion of their wishes, and to comply promptly therewith. 
"I am, dear sir, with great respect, 

"Your obedient servant, 

" R. M. BLATCHFORD, 
" President of the Board of Comm,issioners:' 

The following is a copy of the resolution referred to in the above 
letter : 

" Resolved, That the rooms of the Board be open to the use and 
access of the committee appointed by the Senate of the State to 
investigate the affairs and condition of the Central Park, and that 
the officers of the Board be requested to afford every facility to 
the committee for the examination of the accounts and expendi- 
tures of the Board, and of its operations at the park, and that a 
copy of this resolution be officially communicated to the com- 
mittee." 

It is due to the Commissioners of the Park to state that they 
have constantly expressed their earnest desire that the powers of 
the committee might be exercised to secure a thorough investiga- 
tion into all departments of" the affairs of the park. They have 
placed at the service of the committee unreservedly, the minutes 
of their meetings, from the organization of the Board to the pre- 
sent time, — all their vouchers, books and accounts, and have, when- 



No. 18.] 3 

ever required, promptly furnished any explanations and informa- 
tion sought by the committee. 

The committee having failed to find any memorial, remonstrance, 
or other document upon the records of the Legislature, that would 
enable them to trace the occasion for the adoption of the above 
resolution, by which they were appointed, considering the very 
general terms of this resolution, " to make examination of the 
affairs, condition and progress of the New York Central Park," 
and being desirous to make a thorough investigation and exami- 
nation of the affairs referred to them, and to afford all persons a 
full hearing thereon, shortly after the adjournment of the Legisla- 
ture, caused the following notice to be inserted in several of the 
principal public journals of the city of New York : 

" Central Park. — Public notice is hereby given, that the com- 
mittee appointed under and by virtije of a resolution of the Senate, 
at the last session of the Legislature, to investigate the affairs and 
condition of the Central Park, will meet in this city, on Saturday, 
June 16th at 12 o'clock, noon, at No. 54 Exchange Place. 

" JNO. McLEOD MURPHY, Ch'n of Com. 

"New York, June IIM, 1860. 

The committee met on the 16th June, at the time and place ap- 
pointed, and adjourned to the 18th, on which latter day the com- 
mittee was duly organized, by the appointment of Senator J. 
McLeod Murphy chairman, A. N. Cole, Esq., Clerk, Mr. Daniel 
A. Manning, reporter, and Mr. James C. Clark, sergeant-at-arms. 

Mr. James Hogg, formerly one of the Commissioners of the Cen- 
tral Park, submitted a series of charges, and handed to the com- 
mittee the names of the persons whose attendance he desired for 
their substantiation. The sergeant-at-arms was instructed to sum- 
mon these persons to appear and they did appear before the com- 
mittee. 

Although public notice was given of the objects of the commit- 
tee, up to this stage of the proceedings Mr. Hogg was (he only 
person who appeared, to make and conduct charges against the 
commission ; and he frankly stated and repeated that he had no 
reason to believe, and did not believe that any Commissioner of 
the Central Park had acted corruptly or dishonestly, or that any 
one of them had been the recipient of any improper rewards or 
consideration. 

The committee then adjourned to the 20th June, on which day 



4 [Senate 

they met and proceeded to the park, to make a personal examina- 
tion of actual operations and progress there ; after which, they 
met at No. 54 Exchange Place, when the clerk, having advised the 
committee that he had notified Messrs. Howard Daniels, Frederick 
A. Conckling, and Robert J. Dillon, of the sitting and objects of 
the committee, on motion of Senator Munroe, it was 

Resolved, That a copy of all charges made before the committee 
be furnished to the Commissioners of the Central Park„ and that 
they be invited to appear, either personally or by counsel, before 
the committee. 

On further motion of Senator Munroe, it was 

Resolved, That the clerk be authorized to obtain copies of all 
laws relative to the Central Park: that the clerk of the common 
council be requested to furnish copies of all resolutions relating 
to the park, and that the clerk of the Board of Central Park 
Commissioners be also requested to furnish copies of all resolu- 
tions and ordinances established relative to the management 
thereof. 

The committee, on June 22d, met at the time and place ap- 
pointed, and on this and on subsequent days, proceeded to the 
examination of such persons as were produced, or as chose to 
come before them. 

The Commissioners of the Central Park, appeared, from time to 
time, and conducted the proceedings on their own part. More 
than fifty witnesses vvei-e examined, and some of them at great 
length. 

With the excej)tion of afibrding some few persons in their em- 
ploy, whose capacity or integrity had been attacked, an opportu- 
nity to explain or contradict statements made to their prejudice, 
the Commissioners of the Central Park called no witnesses. 

The committee summoned all persons whose names were fur- 
nished them, as likely to know anything of the park affairs, and 
allowed a full questioning of all persons brought before them, in 
a plain way, not holding the proceedings by any formal or techni- 
cal rules. 

The persons examined wore mainly those who had sought situa- 
tions under, been discharged from, or are now in the employ of 
the Central Park Commissioners, 

The sessions of the committee were continued for t\telve days 
at the first, and three at the second sitting, occupying from five to 



No. 18.] 5 

seven hours per day, afFording all persons offering themselves for 
examination, a fair and free opportunity to state their knowledge 
of the affairs of the park, and to secure an examination into any 
alleged wrong. 

With the exception of one or two witnessee, produced to testify 
as to the taste which had governed the laying out of the park, the 
witnesses were mainly called respecting the manner of conducting 
the work. 

The statements of most of these persons examined were colored 
by their disappointments in not obtaining employment, or losing 
it, and were of the most trifling and unimportant character. 

The committee having learned that Mr. Robert J. Dillon, 
Mr. James Hogg, and Mr. F. A. Conckling, had taken active steps 
in opposition to the passage of the law enacted at the last session 
of tlie Legislature, supposed that they might have some reasons 
for their action, of which the committee should be informed. 

In order to give them an opportunity to state their reasons, if 
any they had, and to furnish evidence in support of any charges 
they might see fit to make, the committee caused Messrs. Dillon 
and Conckling to be subpoenaed by the Sergeant-at-Arms. 

The Commissioners of the Central Park insisted that they should 
be required to appear and answer, but they failed so to do. 

The few witnesses offered for the purpose of showing a defi- 
ciency of taste in the laying out of the park, of course differed, 
in some respects, from the authors of the plan adopted by the 
Board. It would be singular if differences of opinion did not 
exist in such matters. In this respect, the park is its own justifi- ' 
cation; it is open to public examination; it has received the ap- 
probation of the public, with an almost unprecedented unanimity, 
and meets fresh encomiums as it daily develops its attractions. 

The committee do not hesitate to assert that already, in its in- 
fancy, it has promises of beauties and convenience far surpassing 
those of any of the parks of the Old world. 

Persons were called to show that the curves of the walks were 
in some instances not true ; that the grades of the road were not, 
in all instances, such as should have been adopted, and that, on 
several occasions, work was taken up and done over again ; but it 
appears that the testimony of this character was mainly given by 
those who had been employed by the Board within a limited field 
of duty, and that the reasons for the alterations made weie beyond 



6 [Senate 

their knowledge. The alterations were not important, and were 
satisfactorily explained by those at whose suggestions they were 
made. 

No person can drive over the park without at once recognizing 
the fact that the roads are laid, as nearly as practicable on such a 
piece of ground, according to the natural surface. Constant efforts 
have been made to preserve the natural features of the park, and 
the statements that the hills have all been leveled and the valleys 
have all been filled, have not the least foundation in fact. 
The committee, after spending twelve days in hearing the testi- 
mony offered, took the pains personally to go over the park, from 
one end to the other, with the view of acquainting themselves 
thoroughly with its affairs, condition and progress. They have 
also examined the system of accounts; personally observed the 
mode of organization and superintendence of the various depart- 
ments of labor, and have given attention to the financial condition 
of the Board. The committee proceed to present, in as brief a 
space as practicable, the results of the examination of the affairs 
of this novel, extensive, varied and most interesting Avork, ob- 
tained from all the sources of information to which they have had 
access. 

HISTORY. 

The establishment of a park began to be publicly discused in 
the city of New York, about the year 1851. That the city was 
to increase with accelerated growth, and that it was to become 
the metropolis of the continent, had then become apparent. 

It was urged that the attractiveness of foreign capitals to per-- 
sons of leisure, was augmented by their various public places of 
amusement and recreation. 

The question of the location of the park was discussed in the 
city councils ; and in the same year an act was passed, autho- 
rizing the taking of the piece of land lying on the East river, 
between 64th and 75th streets, known as " Jones' woods," with- 
out, however, settling in the public mind the question as to the 
best location for a park. Nearly two years after the passage of 
the "Jones' woods " bill, and in the year 1853, the act authorizing 
the acquiring lands for the Central Park, Avas passed, and in the 
next year the Jones' Wood Park bill was repealed. 

Among reasons urged in favor of the Central Park, was that it 
is in a central location, being situated between two rivers and 
between four main thoroughfares of the island, Third and Fourth 



No. 18.] 7 

avenues on the east, and Broadway and Eighth avenue on the 
west. Between Central Park and both rivers there is about one- 
fourth of a mile on each side. 

It Avas also, in a report of a committee of the Board of Alder- 
men, stated that — 

" Central Park will include grounds almost entirely useless for 
building purposes, owing to the very uneven and rocky surface, 
and also to its lying so far below the proper grade of the streets 
as to render the grading very costly. 

" This would leave the lots on either side utterly valueless for 
any purpose of ordinary improvement, unless it should be built 
up in the same way, or filled in to nearly the same level, 

"The expense of grading the streets through these grounds will 
be found under the head of cost. From it will appear that the 
grading alone will cost more than twice the present value of the 
lands. 

"This expense of grading, in the event of the land being appro- 
priated to a park, will be wholly saved, as the very circumstances 
which render the grading so expensive are an advantage for the 
the purpose of a park." 

The very ruggedness and worthlessness of the ground was a 
reason why it should not be used for building purposes. 

It was further argued that the consideration of the health of 
the public requires that the low ground and unhealthy ponds, situ- 
ated in the district to be included in the Central Park, should be 
rendered innocuous by some improvement. 

The land taken for the park was mainly barren rocks, with 
pools of stagnant water, offensive, unwholesome, sickly, and use- 
less for city purposes. 

Legislative authority having been obtained, proceedings were 
instituted in the supreme court for acquiring titlo to the land. 
These proceedings Avere consummated by the confirmation, on the 
6th of February, 1856, of the report of the commissioners ap- 
pointed by the supreme court. 

The land being thus vested in the city, the next aiep was to 
provide for its improvement. An ordinance Avas passed by the 
common council of the city of New York, in 1856, constituting 
the mayor and street commissioner, commissioners for the im- 
provment of the Central Park, but not being able to obtain the 
funds applicable, no progress was made. 



8 [Senate 

The Legislature, on the I7th day of April, 1857, passed an act 
providing funds for improving the park, and constituting the pre- 
sent Board of Commissioners, which was organized April 30, 1857, 
and since that time has had the charge of the construction and 
management of the Centerl Park, and it is the acts of this Board 
that your committee are required to examine. 

1. The Work Proposed. 

The land taken for the Central Park is in the form of a paral- 
lelogram, bounded by 59th street on the south, lOGth street on 
the north, 5th avenue on the east, and 8th avenue on the west ; it 
is about 2^ miles long, or as far as from the Battery to Grace 
Church, and one*half mile wide. It is an extremely broken piece of 
ground, rising from 15 in some places to 135 feet above tide 
water; rocky, with abrupt declivities, comprising over 770 acres. 
On either side of this piece of land the dwellings of the city are 
already fast appearing. To arrange it with reference to its loca- 
tion and relations with the traffic of the surrounding city, and to 
make within its area provisions for the enjoyment of the people 
of a city already numbering nearly one million of inhabitants, to 
bring out its highest capabilities for all seasons, for all classes, 
sexes and ages, was, in brief, the work imposed upon the Com- 
missioners of the Park. 

Great efforts were made to render the Commissioners unpopular, 
and to prevent their undertaking the work. 

On the 2d of June, application was made to the Common Coun- 
cil of the city for money ; no money was received until September 
29, 1857. 

During all the time it was doubtful whether the Board Avould 
be able to make any progress without entering upon an expensive 
and protracted litigation, and without the means they could not 
even undertake to procure tlie necessary surveys and plans. 

It would be impossible to describe the condition of the park, so 
as to give an accurate description of it, as found by the Commis- 
sioners, it was occupied by shanties, bone boiling establishments 
and piggeries, stagnant water emitted a most offensive odor, and 
the whole neighborhood was unwholesome and disagreeable. The 
opening the water courses, removing the squatters, and clearing 
Board commenced some mainly preliminary operations, such as 
away the nuisances. 



No. 18.] 9 

In 1858, advertisement was made for plans for tlie park by pub' 
lie compeiition. The following is the advertisement as it appeared 
in public print : 

Pla7is for the Central Park. — The Board of Commissioners of the 
Central Park, offer the following premiums for the four designs for 
laying out the Central Park which may be selected : 

For the first $2,000 00 

Forthesecond 1,000 00 

For the third 750 00 

For the fourth.. _... 500 00 

The plans to become the property of the Board. -Topographi- 
cal plans may be consulted and particulars obtained at the office 
of the Board, room 10, Bank of Commerce Building. A limited 
number of photographic sketches of the ground may be obtained 
by applying to the clerk of the Board. All designs must be pre- 
sented to the Board by the first day of March, 1858. The Board 
reserves the right to reject any or all plans. 

JNO. A. C. GRAY, 
CHARLES W.ELLIOTT, 
ANDREW H. GREEN, 

Commit t €64 

An interval of several months' time was necessar}' to enable 
competitors to go on the ground .and make the necessary exami- 
nations of the topography, and to express their ideas upon paper. 
Thirty-three plans were offered in competition, and it was oidy on 
the 18th of May, 1858, that a plan for laying out tlie park was 
adopted. As soon after as practicable, measures were taken to 
work it out upon the ground with such modifications as were from 
time to time made by the Board. The plan adopted was that of 
Messrs. Olmsted and Vaux, upon which, with some alterations, 
the Park is now being constructed. Its merits are peculiar, pre- 
senting in the proposed mode of developing the ground, an extra- 
ordinary combination of beauties, with accommodation for the 
throngs of a great city both novel and useful. 

Four lines of transverse roads are laid out across the park at 
about equal intervals, for the purpose of carrying the traffic of 
the city from one side of the city to the other without obstructing 
the pleasure travel of the park. Without them, this traffic must 



10 [Senate' 

be diverted from one to two miles out of its course, or must 
interfere as it crosses with the pleasure travel. 

These roads are so arranged that, while the whole park is closed 
at night, they are open without obstruction. 

These are already required not only for business travel, but the 
Board has been applied to for permission to lay the Croton water 
pipes and the gas pipes through them from one side of the city to 
the other. Their cost will be more than $500,000, and while indis- 
pensable to the city and the result of an admirable foresight on 
the part of the Commissioners, they are scarcely chargeable to the 
park fund. 

The general motives governing the plans are simple. The inten- 
tion of the work appears to be, in the first place, to obtain large 
unbroken surfaces of smooth meadow-like ground, wherever the 
natural obstacles to this mode of treatment are of a character to be 
overcome, even by a heavy expenditure. The immediate borders of 
these spaces are planted in a manner to hide or disguise any in- 
congruous quality in the grounds beyond. The rocky and broken 
surface which originally characterized the whole site, however, 
admits of the application of this preference of the designers to 
but a small portion of the grounds thus far finished, and elsewhere 
its capabilities for picturesque effects have been revealed by the 
close study of natural suggestions, and with bold and assiduous 
labor. Thus, shallow rocky valleys are deepened into ravines; 
hillocks are thrown together and heightened by an accumulation 
of small boulders, covered with earth; the bases of bold ledges 
are exposed, while tame and uninteresting rocks are broken or 
covered, or by various artifices screened altogether from view. 
The rocky elements of the scenery is, as yet, perhaps too fre- 
quently conspicuous, and a criticism is thus invited, the occasion 
for which will disappear with the growth of the vines and creep- 
ers, which may be found abundantly planted, though as yet hardly 
perceived in the nooks and corners. This being the character of 
the scenery, the conveniences for the public enjoyment of it are 
supplied by carriage roads, bridle paths, graveled walks, and 
boats, on a large sheet of ornamental water. The walks are 
of every possible variety, from the perfectly level and straight 
broad walk, upon which an army might march " company front," 
to narrow and crooked hill-paths, with rocky steps and rustic 
hand-rails to assist the climbers. For the carriage roads there is 



No. 18.] 11 

a variety in width of from thirty'three to fifty feet ; they are car- 
ried, for the most part, through the exterior portions of the park 
in long sweeping stretches, and upon large and regular curves j 
their grade is not often steeper than one in forty. They are built 
in a substantial manner, almost unprecedently so in this country 5 
their surface is but slightly rounded 5 they are very thoroughly 
drained and guarded against serious washing, by means 
scarcely perceptible on the surface, and secure against floods 
or frost. None of the bridle paths are as yet entirely com- 
pleted, owing to a delay in the supply of contracted materials 
for them. These different classes of communications are so ar- 
ranged that by a peculiar system of arched passages it never 
becomes necessary for a person on foot to cross the surface 
of the carriage roads, or the horseman's track, or ahorsemau 
to cross the carriage roads, though he may ride upon them 
if he prefer. A degree of safety in the use of the park is thus 
available, which Avill be much appreciated by invalids, deli- 
cate and aged persons and children ; it is obviously demanded, 
however, as a mere matter of convenience, to prevent the inter- 
ruption to the movement of carriages which the throng of per- 
sons crossing the roads, at points where the arched ways are in- 
complete, even now sometimes occasions. 

A mall or broad straight walk, 35 feet in width and 1,212 feet 
in length, with rows of avenue elms, forms a striking feature at 
the southeastern poi-tion of the park. 

In the carrying out of this plan, the Board has since been en- 
gaged, and your committee, having presented a brief sketch of the 
work proposed, after an examination into all the means used for 
its prosecution, present their conclusions under the following 
heads, covering that into which they are to inquire, viz., the aUairs, 
condition and progress of the park : 

2. The work actually done, or the progress of the park. 

3. The financial condition of the Board. 

4. The mode of work, or the organization of the force at the 
park. 

5. The system of accounting. 

6. General suggestions. 



12 [Senate 

2. Progress of the work. 

During the past year 1^ miles of carriage roads have been com- 
pleted, making the total length now finished and available to the 
public, 4| miles?. Of this length 4 miles are south of 82d street, 
and five»sixths of a mile between 98tli and 104tli streets. 

In addition to this, about 1,200 feet are paved, ready for receiv- 
ing the gravel surface, and the whole of the roadway of the park, 
being about nine miles, is very nearly graded. 

About two miles of walks, during the past year, have been com- 
pleted, making in all now completed and in use by the public, 9^ 
miles. These walks are all south of 79th street. 

The bridle path, with a trifling exception, is all graded 
south of 86th street, being a length of 2| miles. Of this, four- 
fifths of a mile is ballasted with rubble stone, six inches deep over 
the bottom, preparatory to the completion of the superstructure 
with gravel or sand, or other approved material. Of this road 
there is to be five miles, varying in width from ten to thirty feet, 
having gravel or loose sand, upon a well drained compact bed. 
Transverse roads 1 and 2, with the bridges crossing them, are 
substantially completed. 

All the ornamental bridges south of 79th street over which the 
drives pass, except bridge No. 12, (the flower garden bridge,) 
have, been completed, or so far completed as to permit the drives 
to be closed over them, giving unbroken continuity to all the fin- 
ished drives south of 79th street. Bridge No. 12 is closed by a 
temporary wooden structure. 

The water-pipe system of the park is designed upon the plan of 
conducting water generally over the entire area, so that ail parts 
of the ground may be conveniently irrigated, and the roads and 
walks sprinkled in the most convenient and economical manner. 
Hydrants are placed along the borders of all the roads at distances 
of 90 to 120 feet apart, and generally on the lawns at distances of 
300 to 500 feet apart. 

The portion of the system south of 79th street is completed, 
with the exception of the setting of about 150 hydrants, and some 
minor details, all of which is to be done early in the ensuing 
spring, as soon as the frost is sufficiently out of the ground. 

Tlie general work of grading, filling and shaping the surface of 
the grounds, and manuring, plowing, seeding, and the planting of 
trees and shrubbery has been carried on with reference to the 
completion of the principal portion of the park south of 85th 



No. 18.] 13 

street. Some narrow strips of ground bordering upon the Fifth 
and Eighth avenues and 59th street, have been reserved until the 
grading of the street and avenues is completed. 

The district of the park lying along the Fifth avenue between 
'72d and 86th streets, has also been reserved from the operations 
of the past year, owing to its contemplated occupation for a zoolo- 
gical and botanical garden. 

The east and west meadows of the upper part of the park, be- 
tween dith and 103d streets, embracing an area of thirty acres, 
have been drained, manured, plowed and seeded, and some con- 
tiguous ground graded during the past year. 

With the exceptions of the reserved portions of the ground be- 
fore noted, and the few unfinished structures which have been 
enumerated, the park is mainly completed south of 85th street. 
This, with the meadow ground of the upper portion of the park> 
comprises about one half of the total area between 59th and 110th 
streets. 

During the past year, 16,200 trees and shrubs of all kinds have 
been planted in the district south of 85th street. 

The total number of trees and shrubs of all kinds planted up to 
this time, all south of 79th street, is 33,565. 

The trees have thriven remarkably well. The main portion of 
those lost were large trees, planted by contract, and replaced, or 
to be replaced at the expense of the contractor. 

The Board are aware of the great desirability of shade trees 
and of their eminent beauty, but large and perfect trees are the 
product of time. 

While the Board have made transplantation of several hundred 
trees of larger growth, they are »not unmindful of the more cer- 
tain success of smaller trees, nor of the great risks and heavy ex- 
penses attending a successful removal of large trees. 

The committee do not deem it wise to undertake the trans- 
plantation of large trees to a great extent, although they do not 
deem it of impossible accomplishment. 

The experience of removing large trees in England and France, 
though often appealed to, will not be found, on examination, to 
justify the great expense at which it is undertaken. 

Two rustic summer houses have been erected on the lower por- 
tion of the Park and two rustic covered seats in the ramble. Two 
cottages for the convenience of ladies and gentlemen, have also- 
been erected in the ramble. 



14 [Senate 

The following statement shows the aggregate quantities of work 
done and materials furnished up to January 1, 1861. 

The aggregate quantities of work done areas follows: 

Earth work — materials excavated and removed, 1,500,500 cubic 
yards. 

Rock excavation, &c., 251,200 cubic yards. 

Masonry of all kinds, 61,550 cubic yards. 

Length of brick sewers. 17,500 feet. 

Stone broken for roads and concrete, 35,000 cubic yards. 

Sand furnished for masonr^^, 16,430 cubic yards. 

Powder furnished for blasting, 157 tons. 

Gravel furnished for roads and walks, 23,500 cubic yards. 

Brick furnished in 1859 and '60, 3,938,550. 

Cement furnished do 29,623 bbls. 

Tile drains, over 50,000 feet. 

Asphaltum on bridges, 90,260 sup'l feet. 

Retaining wall along the shores of the lakes, 8,970 cubic feet. 

Granite steps, coping and ring stones for bridges, 737 cubic yds. 

3- The Financial Condition of the Park. 

The memorial transmitted to the committee by Mr. Robert J. 
Dillon, which contains allegations respecting the financial scheme 
of the park, that might, and very probably would, without close 
examination, create false impressions respecting the cost of this 
work. To correct its erroneous statements, and in order that the 
financial operations of the park may be fairly presented, the com' 
mittee deem it proper to enter upon this branch of the subject re- 
ferred to tliem, at some length. 

It is stated in the paper alluded to, that the Cojamissioners of 
the Central Park have applied to*the Legislature for an appropria- 
tion of $5,000,000. 

In another part of the paper it is reiterated that " the Commis- 
sioners have again applied to the Legislature for the enormous 
amount of $5,000,000, as before stated." These words, " before 
stated," refer to a qualification in another part of the paper 
that the $5,000,000 so applied for, is $2,500,000 for improvement, 
and $2,500,000, or the annual interest thereof, for the government 
of the park. 

The statement that the Board applied to the Legislature for 
$5,000,000, is erroneous. The effort to correct this statement 
by saying- that " $2,500,000 of this is for improvement, and 
$2,500,000, or the annual interest of it for government," shows 



No. 18.] 15 

a want of comprehension of these very simple financial operations. 

These statements of the paper are fully met and answered by 
the Commissioners of the Central Park, in their answer to the 
enquiries of the Senate during its late session. 

The paper goes on further, in these words : " Your memorial- 
ists respectfully call the attention of the Legislature to the past, 
present, and prospective management. 

The cost of the land to the city $3,469,798 

The cost of State Arsenal and grounds 275,000 

First appropriation for regulation and government. 1,666.666 

Second do do do . 500,000 

Appropriation now asked for regulation 2,500,000 

Appropriation now asked for government.. 2,500,000 

Prospective expenses above present estimates 5,000,000 

Probable cost of extension to 110th street 1,000,000 

$16,911,464 



There can be no doubt that the plain intention of this state- 
ment, is to create the impression that the park will cost the sum 
of $16,911,464, and to excite prejudice against it by reason of 
the enormity of its expenditures. 

Let this statement be contrasted with facts : 

The cost of the land for the park, to the city, was $3,744,798 74 

The cost of the State Arsenal and grounds 275,000 00 

Money expended in the improvement of the park 

to January 2, I860.. 1,764,615 74 

Total cost of the lands of the park, and improve- 
ment up to about the time th^y; the above paper 
was prepared ^5,784,414 48 



The Commissioners of the Central Park had nothing to do with 
the location or original purchase of the land for the park ; they 
were appointed after it was taken, to superintend its improv&ment. 
They found the land purchased to their hand ; what they had to 
do was to improve it. Therefore, of the above sum, the Commis- 
sioners have only a voice in the expenditure up to January 1, 
1860, of $1,764,615 74, and the expression of opinion with respect 
to the purchase of the arsenal grounds. 

The legal proceedings to acquire the park, Avere consummated 
by order of the Supreme Court, confirming the report of the Com- 



16 [Senate 

missioners of estimate and appraisement, on the 5th day of Feb- 
ruary, 1856. 

The total valuation of the land for the park was $5,398,695 

Of this was paid by bonds of the city, $3,740,300 

And the balance 1,658,395 

was charged upon adjacent owners. 

The park, as thus taken, included within its area, grounds of 
about ten acres in extent, upon which the arsenal was erected. 
These grounds were not originally taken for the park, and were 
not included in the above estimate. 

The very apparent advantage of including within the park this 
piece of ground, a mere notch in its external line, added to the 
prevailing opinion that the arsenal buildings were too remote 
from the city, brought about the passage of a law in 1856, before 
the Commissioners of the Central Park had any existence, for its 
sale to the highest bidder, and the same law authorizes the Com- 
missioners of the Central Park to purchase it, at a price not ex- 
ceeding $2*75,000. That purchase was made, and the arsenal 
grounds are now a part of the park, lying between 63d and 65th 
streets, on the Third avenue, upon which the arsenal building 
still remains. 

The price of this purchase was paid by the city, by its stock, 
having forty-one years to run. 

In the year 1858, the Commissioners of the Central Park per- 
ceiving the great mistake that had been made in omitting to ex- 
tend the grounds of the park to 110th street, laid the matter of 
acquiring the land between 106th and 110th streets, and the 
Fifth and Eighth avenues, before the corporate authorities of the 
city, and the obvious propriety«of the acquisition being recog- 
nized by the common council, the board, at the next session of 
the Legislature applied for the passage of a law authorizing its 
addition to the park. 

On the 2d of April, 1859, a law was passed giving authority to 
take these lands to be added to the park. 

The commis^oners to take these lands were appointed by the 
Supreme Court, on the 13th day of July, 1859, and the proceed- 
ings have not yet been consummated. 

A proposition was made to widen Broadway at its junction with 
Eighth avenue and 59th street, for the purpose of giving a more 
spacious access to the park. The Commissioners of the Central 
Park discountenanced this movement, and in July last expressed 



No. 18.] n 

their views relative to the acquisition of land for the park, in the 
following preamble and resolutions : 

Whereas, It is understood that proceedings have been initiated, 
and are now in progress, to acquire the title to property south of 
69th street and east of Broadway, with the view of adding to the 
attractions of the entrance to the park at corner of 59th street 
and Eighth avenue; and 

Whereas, This Board is desirous to avoid any increase of public 
expenditure that can be charged as an additional incident to the 
work of the Central Park, therefore, 

Resolved, That such proceedings did not originate with, nor 
have the sanction of this Board, and this resolution is adopted for 
the purpose of relieving this Board from any responsibility call- 
ing for measures to an increase of public expenditures under the 
assumption that it is required for the completeness of the park. 

The Board seems to have been decided in its expressions of its 
judgment against further additions of territory to the park, inas- 
much as constant expenditure for such purpose, by swelling its 
total cost, might become the occasion of criticism that would pre- 
judice the work in the public estimation. 

Aware of the danger of overlaying the park, and bringing it 
into disrepute on account of additions to expenditures of this 
character, the Board has wisely, as your committee believe, 
avoided any sanction of measures originating and carried on 
ostensibly for the improvement of the park, but really for the 
benefit of speculators. 
The cost of the land of the park then, paid for in 

city stock, the principal being reimbursable in 

thirty years from its issue, is $3,740,300 00 

The cost of the improvement of the park up to 

January 1, 18 GO, about the elate at which the 

printed memorial aforesaid was presented, was 1,7G4,615 74 



Adding the cost of the land to the cost of the im- 
provement, and we have a total cost of the park 
to that time, of _ $5,504,915 74 



The interest of which, being at six per cent., is $330,294.94 per 
annum. 

This sum is justly charged upon posterity, in the shape of bonds 
or stock of the city, inasmuch as it will realize the full fruition 
of the beauties of the park. 

The present generation will not be required to pay the princi- 

[Senate, No 18.] 2 



18 [Senate 

pal sum. The increased taxable value of the land around the 
park is nearly sulBcient to pay the interest on it. 

Although the committee do not think it proper for muBicipal 
corporations to purchase lands on speculation, yet it cannot be 
concealed that the Central Park has been, and will be, in a merely 
pecuniary point of view, one of the wisest and most fortunate 
measures ever undertaken by the city of New York. It has 
already more than quadrupled the value of a large extent of pro- 
party in its vicinity. 

Its total cost is, as above stated, $5,504,91 5.74. When the prin- 
cipal sum that was paid for it becomes due, tliat is about the year 
1890, the park itself will be worth ten times its original cost ; mean- 
time, the annually accruing interest on tliis principal is more than 
paid by the increased taxable valuation of the property in its vicin- 
ity; an increase of taxation coming notuponthe city, but upon the 
owners of property in the neighborhood, by whom it is willingly 
paid, as their property has largely increased in consequence of the 
establishment of the park. 

There seems no hardship to anybody, and the city corporation 
has not the least ground for complaint growing out of the expen- 
ditures for the park, and makes none. 
The lands on the three wards surrounding the 
park, to wit, the 12th, 19th and 22d, were as- 
sessed in 1856, the year in which the park was 

taken, at $26,429,565 00 

In 1860 the same lands were assessed at 43,463,090 00 

Equal to an increase oi' taxable valuation of $17,033,531 00 



The tax upon which increase, at the rate of 1860, to wit, 
169iVoV pel" cent., will give $288,685^^0- 

The annual interest on the whole cost of the park and improve- 
ments is $330,294^^V 

The general benetits accruing to property in the city by this 
park, are not easily estimated in dollars and cents. They are 
found in the opportunity afforded by the park for recreation, in 
its sanitary benefits, and in the inducements it offers to persons of 
wealth and leisure, from all parts of the world, to make the me- 
tropolis the place of their residence, and as a source of refined en- 
joyment for the whole population of the city. 

But it seems to the committee that the assessed valuations 



No. 18.] 10 

about the park are but a very poor indication of actual valueH, 
and in proof of this the committee will state a few facts respect- 
ing the twelve blocks of ground proposed to be added to the north 
end of the park. 

The taxed valuation of these blocks is $179,850. The valua- 
tion, as laid b}'- the Commissioners to appraise the value of the 
lots, appointed by the Supreme Court, is $1,499,438, or more than 
eight times the values laid by the tax assessor. 

If this be any index of actual values, the three wards above 
mentioned have increased in actual value more than $300,000,000. 

More than two-tiiirds of the net increase of the whole city tax 
valuation has taken place during the past year in the three 
wards surrounding the Park. From these figures it appears to 
the committee : 

1st. That the property in the immediate neighborhood of the 
Park has increased, by reason of its establishment, in a sum that 
will afford a tax large enough to pay the interest on its cost and 
improvement, without adding anything to the general taxation. 

2d. That those whose property is actually increased in value 
pay this tax, as they can well afford to do. 

3d. That when the principal of the stock owed by the city 
for the improvement and purchase of the Park matures, the 
ground will probably be worth more than twenty times its whole 
cost. It is now worth more than ten times its cost. The Comp- 
troller of the city of New York, its chief financial oflaccr, in his 
annual report to the common council, says : " The increase in 
the amount of taxes accruing to the city in consequence of the 
enhancement in value of real estate situated in the upper part of 
this island, over and above the former value of the land now 
withdrawn from taxation, on account of the opening of this noble 
park, will, it is thought, afford more than sufficient means for the 
payment of interest on the debt incurred for its purchase and 
improvement, without any increase in the general rate of taxa- 
tion." 

In a financial point of view, the corporation has no right to 
complain, for it acquires property of annually increasing value ; 
nor have those property holders who are taxed for the interest on 
the money for the purchase and improvement of the Park any cause 
of complaint, for they get ample return in the increased value of 
their property, and the general taxpaycrsare called on to pay but 
little for the interest on the loan. 



20 [S 



ENATe 



The machinery of the whole enterprise seems to work equitably 
and favorably. 

The following is a summary of the expenses up to July 1, 
1860: 
Balance in hand, Dec. 31, 1859 $10,^96 62 

The total recepts of the six months, ending 
June 30, 1861, are as follows: 
From seventh issue of stock by 

the city of New York $416,600 00 

From eighth issue of stock by the 

city of New York 250,000 00 

From Adams' stone breaker, for 

labor 6 32 

From sale of grass 160 00 

Fromsaleof buildings on the park 396 00 

From sale of barrels 36 GO 

From sale of horse 40 00 

From laborers, for lost tools 136 44 

From pound receipts.. ..,. 6 00 

■ $667,380 76 



The total expenditures for the six months end- 
ing June 30, 1860, are as follows: 
Salaries and compensation of ar- 
chitects, clerks, &c $'3,290 01 

Surveys, engineers and draftsmen 9,140 50 

Incidental expenses.. 5,773 52 

Park-keepers 6.615 05 

Materials of construction and 

tools 71,517 44 

Stationery, printing, advertising, 

engineers' drawing materials, 

and books of account 1,576 50 

Trees and plants, manure, and 

cartage of the same 3,643 65 

Broad walk, north side of 59th 

street 11,459 08 



$678,277 38 



Carried forward $ $678,277 38 



No. 18.] 21 

Bro right forward $ $678,277 3^^8 

Labor account — amount paid la- 
borers, cartmen, &c., as per paj 

rolls, and vouchers 182,092 53 

Maintenance account 18,037 15 

Returned this amount, advanced 

by Bank of Commerce 100,000 00 

$423,145 43 



Balance $255,131 95 



Total receipts of the Board from the commencement of its orga- 
nization, May 1, 1857, are as follows: 
From first issue of stock by the 

city of New York $50,000 00 

From second issue of stock by the 

city of New York 250,000 00 

From third issue of stock by the 

city of New York 300,000 00 

From fourth issue of stock by the 

city of New York 300,000 00 

From fifth issue of stock by the 

city of New York 300,000 00 

From sixth issue of stock by the 

city of New York.. 466,600 00 

From seventh issue of stock by the 

city of New York 416,600 00 

From eighth issue of stock by the 

city of New York 250,000 00 

From sale of buildings on the park 5,367 37 

From laborers, for lost tools 397 32 

From Wm. Menck, for rent 50 00 

From sale of grass on the park . . 275 00 

From exhibition of plans. 294 85 

From John McGrath, for lost time 5 75 

Fron» this amount over in making 

change 02 

From sale of barrels 49 2f 

From Bank of Commerce, interest 

on deposits 2,909 97 

From pound receipts 297 32 



22 [Senatij 

From Adams' stone breaker, for 

labor 6 32 

From sale of horse 40 00 

From this amount advanced by 

Bank of Commerce 100,000 00 

Total receipts from May 1, 1857, to June 30, 1860 $2,442,893 12 
l^ie expenditures from May 1, 

1857, the date of the organiza- 
tion of the Board, to January 

1, 1858, were $77,881 41 

Expenditures from January 1, 

1858, to January 1, 1859, were 507,487 86 
Expenditures from January 1, 

1859, to January 1, 1860, were 1,179,246 47 
Expenditures from January 1, 

1860, to June 30, 1860, were.. 323,145 43 
Returned this amount advanced 

by Bank of Commerce 100,000 00 

Total expenditures from May 1, 1857, to June 30, 

1860 $2,187,761 17 

Balance July 1, 1860 1 $255,131 95 

Total expenditures from May 1, 1857, to January 

1,1861, were $2,703,166 06 



In this amount are included the expenses for maintenance, up 
to January 1, 1861. 
City and County of JVew York: ' 

Charles H. Amerman being sworn, says : That he is a bookkeeper 
in the employ of the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park; 
that he prepared the above statement of the receipts and expendi- 
tures of said Board ; that he has examined the vouchers therefor, 
and that said vouchers are correct. That said statement is in all 
respects correct and true, and comprises a correct account of all 
the receipts and expenditures of said Board, from the commence- 
ment of its organization to the 1st day of July, 1860. 

CH. H. AMERMAN. 

Sworn to before me this 22d day of November, 1860. 

GEO. W. WARNER, Co7n. of Deeds. 



^o. 18.] 23 

4. Organization of forces of consiruction. 

A plan liaviug been adopted for laying out the Park, the mode 
of doing the work soon became a matter of interesting discussion 
in the Board. A proposition to contract the various items of the 
.work to the lowest bidder found but few advocates. It was op- 
posed on the ground that the work was very various — one class 
of work constantly running into and overlapping another; that 
the taste and judgment required could not be procured by con- 
tract ; and that freedom to adjust the final surface of the work 
must be unrestrictedly reserved in the Board; that the intricacy 
of the work did not admit of the specifications being sufficiently 
complete to hold contractors without giving rise to litigation and 
expense. The system of city contracting had not accomplished 
results, even in the most ordinary and simplest sort of Avork, that 
should lead the Board to enter upon the same pernicious system 
that has constantly kept the city in expensive litigation. 

The Board, therefore, determined to conduct its operations 
mainly by men directly responsible to itself, and under its con- 
trol. The committee believe this a wise determination. In the 
few instances where the Board has attempted to contract specific 
structures, notwithstanding the most careful contracts and speci- 
fications, the work has been retarded almost without exception, 
much to the annoyance of the public, and not a single contract 
that has been formally entered into has been completed within 
the time agreed upon. Constant vigilance and superintendence 
has scarcely been sufficient to keep the class of contractors who 
have become, in their dealings with the city, accustomed to a lax 
interpretation of their contracts, up to the strict terms required 
of them. 

More than seven-tenths of the whole outlay of money on the 
Park are paid directly to mechanics and laboring men. These 
men are regularly paid at the current market rates of labor. 

The number of men employed at one time on the Park has 
been as high as three thousand five hundred. It was not over 
twenty-six hundred during any one time in the year eighteen 
hundred and sixty, and the work has so far progressed that it is 
not probable that so large a number will be again employed at one 
time. It seemed very important to your committee, that where so 
large a portion of the money is disbursed in small sums, that 
the accounts and superintendence should be such as to secure, 
first, a fair return in labor for the money expended; and second, 
an accurate account of the amount due to each person for his labor. 



24 



[Senate 



Any looseness or inexactness in keeping the accounts, or in 
returning the time of so large a number of men, might occasion 
the loss of a large sum in the course of a year. 

The committee have, therefore, inspected the system of the 
accounts of the commission, which were devised especially for 
this work by one of its members, and examined the method of 
superintendence and organization. 

The working force of the Park is divided into squads of about 
thirty to forty men, each having its foreman, and when required, 
an assistant foreman. 

No man is set to work on the Park without an order from the 
proper office to the foreman of the gang in which he is to be em- 
ployed, in the following form; nor ia his name entered in the 
books, so that he can get his pay, without a counterpart of the 
order to the disbursing clerk : 

To the Disbursing Clerk. To Foreman 

The name of . 



is to be added to the Pay Roll as 



His time will he reported by_ 



Central Park, 



_Supt. 
186 



is added to your gang. 



Central. Park, 



_Supt. 
186 



There are eight general foremen, each having the oversight of 
a certain number of foremen and their gangs, it being their duty 
to direct the foremen, insist upon. their constant presence at their 
work, and to report immediately any departure from the rules of 
the Park to the superintending officer, and also to make a daily 
written return of the specific duty upon which each gang is en- 
gaged in on that day. 

The following is a form of their report : 



No. 18.J 



25 



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26 [Senate 

They are also required to enquire and report as to the number 
of men employed in the gangs under their charge, to serve as a 
check upon the returns of time by the foreman. Each foreman is 
required to call the roll of his men tliree times each day, and 
denote in a book, by a single straight mark, the presence of each 
man at each roll call. Where a man is late at his work, or leaves 
before the day is ended, the foreman marks down opposite the 
name the hour at which he comes or goes. The foremen are not 
allowed to compute the number of hours to which their men are 
entitled. It is found that with the care of the work on their 
hands the least amouut of writing, and the simpler the entries 
to be made in the field the more accurate will be the results, 
besides, some foremen, very competent for their duty, may not be 
skillful at writing or figuring. The book of each foreman is 
daily returned to the office, and there all computations of time 
are made by skillful clerks. Wlien the weather permits, the 
working time from April to November 15, is ten hours per day, 
the rest of the year nine hours per day. The time is kept in 
hours, and each man is paid for the actual hours he works. If a 
man comes at one o'clock P. M., and goes at four, in a column, 
prepared for the purpose, the foreman enters 1 — 4, but is not 
permitted to say how many hours a man is entitled to, the clerks 
in the office making the calculation. 

The following is an example of the time books, of which each 
foreman has two, arranged for the alternate days, one being in his 
possession on the day the other is returned to the office : 



No. 18.] 



27 



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28 [Senate 

The assistant foreman aids the foreman at roll call, and in su- 
pervising the gang, which is sometimes divided temporarily, part 
being in one place and part in another. It was found in the com- 
mencement of the work, that occasionally a man who had worked 
on public works, where it was permitted, would, when the roll 
was called, answer for himself and for one or two others not pre- 
sent. An arrangement was made to prevent this b}^ requiring the 
foreman to form his men into line, he calling the names and each 
man, as his name was called, stepping forward a pace, so that it 
might be seen, as well as heard, that he was present, the assistant 
foreman calling out " right," as each man thus steps forward and 
answers. The time is daily transferred, or posted, from the fore- 
man's books to the time ledger, to the account of each man on the 
park, this goes on for two weeks, when the time ledger is footed, 
each man's account extended, and a payroll made out for the pre- 
vious two weeks. The pay roll is in this form : 

We, the subscribers, acknowledge to have received from the 
Board of Commissioners of Central Park, the sums set opposite our 
names respectively, being in full for our services to July 7th, I860. 



Name. 


Occupation. 




la 


Amount. 


Signatures. 


Witnesses. 




$ Cts. 




Geo. McDonald. 


Foreman . . . . 
Asst forem'n 
Laborer 


12 $2 00 
12 1 50 


24 00 

18 00 

8 00 






Clias. Rooke . . . 




J. Gavin, 
J. Gavin. 


John .J. Mayer . 


8 


1 00 


John J. Mayer, his X mark. 



The occupation of each man, the time he has made, and the 
rate of pay to which he is entitled being stated. The pay roll, 
being completed, is certified in the following form: 

I certif}^ that ] have taken the time from the time books, ex- 
tended the same, and computed the respective amounts due to each 

person named in this pay roll, under date of , and that the 

same is in all respects correct as stated in said pay roll, of which 

amount dollars is to be charged to maintenance account, as 

per annexed statement. 
(Signed) 

D{sbursi7ig Clerk. 
I certify that I have compared the rates of payment on this 
pay roll with the rates authorized by the Board of Commissioners, 
and that the same are correct. 
(Signed) 

Book-keeper. 



No. 18.] 29 

Eacli foreman having been required to talce the following oath, 
the process of paying commences: 

I, , foreman employed by the Board of Commissioners of 

the Central Park, do solemnly swear that I have myself performed, 
and that each and every person named in the time book returned 
by me to the Commissioners of the Central Park, has performed 
the labor, and the kind of labor therein "r\esignated, in the service 
of the said Board, for each and every hour marked opposite their 

respective names, for the two weeks ending , 18G-; and that 

each of said persons is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, 
entered in said time book by his usual, true and lawful name, and 
that said time book is a just, true and faithful account of the time 
and services therein specified, and of the persons who have per- 
formed the same, without any misrepresentation, evasion or con- 
cealment Avhatever. 

And further, that there is no agreement, arrangement or under- 
standing with any of the persons employed on the Central Park, 
directly or indirectly, that I am to receive from them, or from any 
other person, any sum except my established compensation as 
foreman, and that I have not placed any man upon the work with- 
out the written authority of the architect-in-chief or property 
clerk of the Central Park, 

Sworn and subscribed this day of , 186-, before me, 

■ , Com'r of Deeds. 

Payment, except in the severe winter weather, is made upon 
the ground ; a wagon and the necessary apparatus is driven im- 
mediately to the place where the squad is at work, the men are 
called, and their foreman stands to identify each man as he comes 
up for his pay. 

The money is counted by two persons and then handed to the 
person entitled to it, who gives a receipt on the pay roll. Much 
time is saved by this mode. During the winter, the men are paid 
at the office of the disbursing clerk after regular working hours, 
as if every man were compelled to go for his pay to the office, 
perhaps remotely situated, the aggregate time lost w'ould be very 
considerable. 

The wages of men are regularly paid in specie only, thus avoid- 
ing all question as to the genuineness of bank bills, and also ef- 
fectually checking efforts wdiicli would be made by designing per- 
sons, to get good bills for bad ones which they allege to have been 
paid them. No store pay has ever been made or permitted. 

General Foremen, Foremen and assistants, are required to be 
constantly upon the work ; the general foremen are required to 
report delinquencies of their foremen to the office, and foremen, 



30 



[Senate 



all delinquencies, idleness or inattention, dishonesty or intoxica- 
tion, of their men, as well as those who have been absent for more 
than three da3'S. If the offence be such as to require but a mod- 
erate correction, the party is suspended for one or more days, or 
if of a graver character, he is discharged by the following forn^ : 



To the Disbursing Clerk. 



of 



sgang 



is discharged. 



185 



To foreman 



having been reported by 



for 



is discharged. 



You will please read the above to 
your gang at the next roll-call. 

185 



From 12 to 2 o'clock each day, men who consider themselves 
improperly reported, unjustly treated, or otherwise aggrieved by 
the action of their foreman, or any officer of the park, or who 
wish to make complaints against any one, or to answer any com- 
plaints made against themselves, may have a hearing at the office 
of the Superintendent. 

The engineer corps has been larger during the past season 
than heretofore, in consequence of the large amount of masonry 
and other mechanical work that has been carried on, and also for 
the purpose of making a revised and final estimate of the cost 
and quantities of all unfinished work. 

The aim is to establish all practicable checks against frauds or 
injustice upon the men, or upon the funds of the public ; as an 
additional aid on this, the conscience of the foreman is appealed 
to in the oath above mentioned. The men at the park are 
required to do their day's work well ; they receive their pay 
promptly; are free from all political influence, and the most 
vigilant and stringent means are taken to prevent their being 



No. 18.] 31 

imposed upon, or taxed in any way by the foreman, or those over 
them. 

Out of the hirge number on the pay roll, there are generally a 
few absent at the regular pay day, from sickness, or other cause. 
These have an opportunity, on the following week, to get their 
pay at the park, and if, after a month, they do not call for it, the 
money is returned to the bank, and they are paid by check on 
the bank when they call for it. 

The foreman is made personally responsible for the tools used 
by his gang, and he is not paid until he produces a certificale 
from the tool clerk that his tools are correct. This certificate is 
in this form; 

TO DISBURSING CLERK. 

Foreman 

Tool account is 

Tool Keeper. 

Central Park, 18 

A regular tool account is kept Avith each foreman ; he is charged 
with those delivered to him and credited with those returned. 
If the balance are not found in his box, the value of those mis- 
sing is witheld from the pay of the foreman. Each gang is pro- 
vided with a tool box. in which every man in the gang is required 
at roll call at night to deposit his implements, and which box he 
must necessarily go to at least once per day; on the outside of 
each of these boxes is posted the following notice : 

CENTRAL PARK. 

[Cr- A copy of this notice is to be kept posted on the outside of every tool cart, and is to 
be read aloud to each gang once a fortnight. 

Rights of Men Employed. 

"Every man should understand that he is employed solely to 
work, on the park, for his regular Avages, and for no other con- 
sideration whatever. Nothing but his labor, compliance with 
the rules of the park, and a civil behavior to all engaged on it, 
can be required of him. 

No one has a right to receive a payment, in any form, for 
having procured any man's employment, or for retaining any man 
on the work. If any such payments are made, or any presents or 
treats are offered, which can be considered as payments or bribes 
for such favors or services, they will be deemed proper ground 
for the discharge of the person offering them. Foremen and 
assistant foreman are forbidden to propose to their men to take 
tickets for raffles, or to offer them any articles for sale, to act as 



32 [Senate 

agents for landlords or boarding-liouse keepers, or to collect debts 
due to others, of their men. 

It is entirely contrary to the intention of employing men on 
the park that any influence of any sort should be brought to bear 
upon their political opinions or actions. Officers and foremen on 
the park are required, therefore, to abstain from talking with the 
men upon political topics, and are forbidden to solicit tlieir votes 
for any person or measure, on any pretence whatever. Men are 
requested to inform the Superintendent if they are ever told that 
it is their duty to vote one way or another because they are 
employed on the park, or that it is necessary for them to vote 
one way or another in order to be kept at work on the park. 

Men who are absent three working days in succession, or who 
are habitually irregular in their attendance, will be discharged. 
But men bearing a good character, who have been absent on 
account of illness or for other good reasons, more than three 
days, may obtain from their foreman a certificate, on presenting 
which at the office, they will, if vacancies exist, be restored. 

Men wdio consider themselves to have been improperly reported, 
unjustly treated, or otherwise aggrieved by the action of their 
foreman, or any officer of the park, or who wish to make a com- 
plaint against any one, or to answer any complaint made against 
themselves, may call at the Superintendent's office, between 
twelve and two o'clock each day, or may address the Superinten- 
dent directly, in writing." 

Superi7itende7it. 

The foremen are required to read this notice audibly to their 
gangs once a fortnight, so that if there be any men who cannot 
read they may net be ignorant of the contents. 

If a foreman omits so to read it, he is discharged. The whole 
force is under strict discipline. 

The work at the park has exhibited a marked exemption from 
accidents to the workingmen. The blasting of rock has been 
carried to a very great extent, aind surrounded by thousands of 
men at work, and visitors. Out of nearly 12,000 men who have 
from time to time been employed in the course of tliree years, but 
two have been fatally injured, both from their own imprudence, 
and no visitor to the park has ever been injured. When this is 
contrasted with the daily occurring accidents in the neighbor- 
hood, it speaks highly for the caution and foresight, and vigilance 
in the management in every department of thn work. 

The accounts for maintenance are arranged separately from 
those of construction, and are kept under the ibllowing distinct 
heads: Roads, walks, plantations, turf, water, ice, irrigation, thor- 
ough drainage, transverse roads, masonry, tools, surface drainage, 



No. 18.] 33 

buildings, miscellaneous, gatekeepers, tlie object being to keep a 
constant watch upon each class of expenditures with the view to 
its reduction. 

Owing to the recent character of the work the expenses of main- 
tenance are greater for the first year than they will be subsequent- 
ly, when the work is more settled. 

System of accounts. , 

Siiortly after the organization, the Commissioners of the Park 
made arrangements with the Bank of Commerce by which they 
derive an interest on the moneys remaining on deposit. This 
interest is added to the funds for the Park. The committee are 
not aware that any department of the city government has ever 
yet made so favorable an arrangement for interest. It establishes 
the fact that interest may be secured on the deposits of the city 
iu the largest monied institution, by proper attention to the 
subject. It seems to your committee, after a special examina- 
tion, that nothing can be more systematic, and thorough, than 
the mode of ensuring the accountability of all employees on the 
Park. 

The system of accounts is well devised, and the mode of keep- 
ing them is characterized by neatness, clearness and accuracy, 
altogether creditable to those having charge of them. 

As with the labor, so with the tools and materials necessary in 
construction. The mode of their purchase and preservation seems 
to have been properly devised. Requisitions are made upon the 
Board for articles soon to be required at the Park. These are 
laid before the Board and referred to the executive committee, 
who, after consideration, order the purchase of such as seem 
necessary. Purchases are made by the treasurer, or under his 
direction, after the market is canvassed, and at the lowest cash 
prices. All articles purchased are weighed, counted or measured, 
and their receipt certified to upon the bills by the person in 
charge ; the bills are examined in detail by the property clerk, 
and re-examined and laid before the auditing committee, who 
audit such as are correct and report them to the Board. The 
Board act upon them, ordering their payment or otherwise, and 
if oidered paid, they are paid by check on the bank. 

Payments, except to persons on pay roll, are made by check 
on the bank, to the order of the person entitled to receive the 
same. 

[Senate, No. 18.] 3 



34 [Senatb 

'; Persons furnisliing materials are required to riiake affidavit to 
the following effect before receiving their pay: 

" City and County of JYew York, ss. : 



being duly sworn deposes and sa3's, tliat the annexed bill against 
the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park, presented by 
him, is correct and just in every particular, that the amounts 
charged are reasonable, and such as are ordinarily charged for 



to individual customers, and are for the articles named ia the 
bill, and for none other whatever. 

Sworn to this day ) 

. of 18G , before me, ) 

, J^otary Public.''^ 

The property clerk gives bonds as security for the faithful 
performance of his duty, and he is charged with the care and 
preservation of the property of the Board at the Park, and is 
responsible for it. 

An inventory of all the property of the Board is required an- 
nually. The property clerk has also tlie charge of the pound for 
stray animals, and makes his return monthly to the treasurer of 
all the moneys for redemption of strays. These moneys, with 
those derived from sales of grass and useless buildings, are added 
to the funds of the park. 

When not in use, the tools and instruments of the park are 
care repaired and housed, or otherwise protected from the 
weather: and it appears to the committee that the same sort of 
care in these matters prevails at the park that controls a 
substantial farmer in the economy of his farming operations. 

6. General suggestions. 

■ It appears that the Board have not overlooked the propriety of 
raising a revenue from certain institutions to be established 
within the territory under its supervision, without, in any respect, 
infringing upon the individual freedom of the park to all who ob- 
serve the ordinances provided for its government. 

There could be no objection to permit the establishment of in- 
stitutions that would furnish instruction with amusement, such as 
museums, botanical or zoological gardens, or halls for music, all 
of which may be constructed and managed according to rules to 



Ko. 18.] 35 

be prescribed by the Board, and maintained by private persons or 
associations, who should pay a rent therefor. 

Licenses for carriages, for boats, and to sell refreshments, may 
all be productive of a revenue that will, in some degree, lessen 
the annual expense of maintaining the park, at the same time 
they set a valuable example of frugality and usefulness in the 
management of public concerns. 

To the board has been committed the power and duty of provi- 
ding ordinances for the government of the park. With a popula- 
tion like that of the city of New York, this duty is often one of 
great delicacy, and requires the exercise, not only of a sound dis- 
cretion, but a full knowledge of the subject to be legislated on, in 
all its bearings. 

The ordinances of the park are published in the newspapers, 
and brief abstracts of them posted frequently about the grounds. 

They establish hours for opening and closing the gates, provide 
for the exclusion of animals and vehicles which would incommode 
pleasure driving; confine carriages to the carriage roads; regu- 
late their speed ; place proper restrictions upon the use of vari- 
ous structures and conveniences, and forbid practices of a disor- 
derly and immoral tendency. They are given at length in an ap- 
pendix marked A. 

To enforce the ordinances of the Commissioners, protect the 
plants and other property, direct visitors, guard against accidents, 
and otherwise aid the superintendence, a well organized force of 
fifty men is maintained, styled "park keepers;" allowing eight 
hours of active service per day to each man, this provides, on 
an average, but one man to guard each forty acres. The 
keepers are in the prime of life, and have been taken mainly from 
among the foremen and mechanics employed in the construction 
of the park. They are neatly uniformed, are subject to military 
drills and discipline; and their well established efficiency and 
popularity evince the discrimination with which they have been 
selected, and the care with which they are trained for this 
duty. Though paid from the fund assigned for the maintenance 
of the park, the keepers receive their authority as police officers 
from the Metropolitan Police Commissioners, whose superintend- 
ent testified to their availability for strengthening the general 
force under his command in emergencies. 

The following are a few statistics of the number of persons 
visiting the Park : 



36 [Senate 

Average number per clay, six moiitlis ending October, 1860: 
4,500 pedestrians, 144 equestrians, 659 vehicles. 

Largest number on fine Sunday — May 29, 1860: '15,000 pedes- 
trians, 120 equestrians, 3,200 vehicles. 

Usual number on fine Sunday : 35,000 pedestrians, 60 eques- 
trians, 1,500 vehicles. 

Usual number on fine week day: 2,000 pedestrians, 90 eques- 
trians, 1,200 vehicles. 

Largest number on fine Concert day — Saturday, February 22, 
1860: 13,000 pedestrians, 225 equestrians, 4,650 vehicles. 

Usual number on fine Concert day: 7,500 pedestrians, 180 
equestrians, 2,500 vehicles. 

Largest number during skating season — Sunday, December 16, 
1860: 84,000 pedestrians, 115 equestrians, 1,218 vehicles. 

Usual number during skating season, fine week day : 12,000 
pedestrians, 40 equestrians, 1,500 vehicles. 

The etficiency of the police regulations of the Park have been 
well tested during the recent season of sports on the ice. It is 
certain that above 80,000 persons visited the Park on one day, 
and half of this number Avere probably togetlier at one time on 
and about the twenty acres of ice, the larger part moving rapidly, 
in exuberant spirits, while the roads were crowded with carriages. 
The most highly finished structures adjoin the ice, but it is not 
known that they suffered the slightest damage, or that among the 
vast crowd any person was severely injured, or met with the loss 
of anything of value which the keepers were not able to restore 
the same day. It is, perhaps, to be regretted, having reference 
only to its winter use, that a larger sheet of water was not found 
practicable on the Park. It is undeniable, however, that tlie con- 
centration of such numbers of pleasure-seekers upon the little 
space of twenty acres, while it imposes some restraint upon the 
skaters, and calls for constant exercise of skill to avoid collisions, 
adds vastly to the general gayety, and thus causes an excitement 
of healthful hilarity which, if it can be enjoyed in safety, is in 
itself of no small value. None of the various exhibitions of the 
crowded life of this metropolis are more interesting, or can bo 
viewed with more unmingled satisfaction than the skating scene 
upon the Park. It will probably soon become as notable an 
attraction as the most celebrated periodical festivals of the old 
world, in which alone can anything like its counterpart for gay 
tumult be found. To provide the required conveniences, and 



Ko. 18.] 37 

allow the freedom demanded for sucli occasions, and yet maintain 
the restraint necessary for safely and reasonable good order, 
require a delicate discrimination, which the commission has suc- 
cessfully exercised. 

The preservation of order on the Park, and its exemption from 
the presence of influences that would render it a disagreeable or 
unsafe resort for all classes of society, is of the very first impor- 
tance, and requires constant vigilance, as If it is not well understood 
that disorder or obscenity on the Park are promptly punished, the 
virtuous and orderly will be banished from it. To preserve 
order, authority must be enforced and sustained; and it is due to 
the city, to the Park and to its managers, that the Legislature pro- 
vide all necessary legislation to ensure the proper control and 
government of this pleasure ground of the people, and to secure 
it from the incursions of the lawless and disorderly. 

It should be always kept, as now, in such manner that a child, 
or lady unattended, may, at any hour when the Park is open to 
the public, visit it without apprehension of insult or danger. 

During the summer, boats are placed on the lake, under proper 
regulations, the proprietors of which are required to pay a license 
fee to the funds of the Board. 

A fine band of 35 instruments, has afforded opportunity for 
thousands to enjoy music selected with care from the finest com- 
positions, and has added very much, to the interest of the 
park in summer. The funds for the music are not taken from the 
park funds but are provided from other sources. 

The city of Hamburg, and the Vintner's and Dyers' Guilds, of 
London, have stocked the waters with graceful swans, and personip 
are offering to the Board other animals that will be equally at- 
tractive. 

The hours of opening the park have been prescribed according 
to the seasons, and with the view of giving the public the greatest 
amount of accommodation compatible with keeping the park in 
order. 

The Commissioners have steadily set their faces against any 
political interference in the park, and they have thus far, succeeded 
in preventing these influences from getting any foothold there. 
The public generally understand this and accept it as a most fa- 
vorable omen — a triumphant success of a determined effort emi- 
nently proper and essential on this work of art. 



as [Senate 

The park is, as nearly as tlie committee can judge from their 
own observation, as well as from statements made before them in 
July, 18G0, more than one-half completed, as respects expendi- 
ture. The time required for its completion will be from two to 
three years, though its less rapid completion would be more 
economically accomplished. The w^orkhas at times suffered delay 
for want of prompt action in the provision of the necessary funds. 
The law of 1860, authoiized the board to require the supervi- 
sors of the county, to raise $150,000 per annum, for the main- 
tenance of the park. The committee observe that the board ro- 
gtricted itself for eight months and twelve days of the year 1860, 
to $80,000, and for the whole year 18G1, to $114,000. While the 
amount will somewhat increase with the completion of the park, 
it will also decrease as the work becomes more tried, tested, and 
settled. 

With the public intimation given by the committee of the ob- 
jects of their appointment, no charge of malpractice, dishonesty 
or delinquency, was made against any member of the Board, nor 
was evidence produced of any malfeasance on the part of 
the members. The foundation for the resolution by which your 
committee was raised, is believed to have been certain rumors first 
set in motion by the disappointments of ex-members of the com- 
mission and discharged employees. The failure to fix any mal- 
practice or want of int<3grity on the Commissioners, is complete 
and thorough. 

The two reservoirs under the charge of the Crotq.n Aqueduct 
Board, are situated in the park, and the mains and other pipes and 
drains necessary to distribute the water to the city, must, 
to some extent, be laid through the park. An act of the Legisla- 
ture was passed at its last session, authorizing the two Boards to 
agree on the lines on which these pipes should be laid. The com- 
jiiittee find an entire harmony of feeling between the two Boards, 
both recognizing that the public service is their first duty, and 
that this service requires their harmonious cooperation. 

As to the system of irrigation, your committee, from the evi- 
dence before them, are satisfied that proper regard has been liad 
to this important branch of the maintenance of the park. In our 
(climate, much of the beauty and luxuriance of the vegetation 
must depend upon the perfection of this system. The supply of 
water is, in almost all cases, taken from the Croton reservoir, and 
>vith the present extent and population of the city, and even al- 



No. 18. J 39 

lowing for its great probable increase, that supply is abundant. 
Your committee observe, however, that certain portions of tho 
park, amounting to about thirty-five acres, are on or above tho 
level of the reservoirs and therefore not easily irrigated from 
those sources. They would recommend that some measures bo 
adopted which would ensure an adequate supply of water to these 
points. 

■ The committee with the view of a more thorough and detailed 
examination of the various departments of work at the Park, tho 
strength and sufficiency of the architecture, its drainage 
both above and below ground, and its water system, engaged tho 
services of Julius Kellerberger, Esq., a skillful and competent 
architect and engineer, Mr. Kellerberger occupied twentv-ono 
days, in the examination ; his opinion, which is herewith submitted, 
furnishes the highest testimony as to the character, efficiency, 
economy and management of the work, [See appendix C.j 

In the selection of officers and agents for carrying out the design 
the Commissioners have been singularly fortunate, as the result of 
their operations thus far, clearly show, the work standing already 
foremost and conspicuous among those of its kind in Europe. 

From the commencement of operations at the Park the Commis- 
sioners seem to have been guided by a desire to complete tho 
Avork acceptably to that portion of the public who appreciate the 
benefits of good management, and the advantages and ultimate 
economy of a substantial structure, over one superficial, though 
perhaps less expensive and durable. 

The plan is harmonious; it is an entire design for the whole 
ground, contrived with a knowledge of the capacities of the land, 
and of the wants of a great city. It is obvious that the samo 
minds that have thus far carried out the work, should continue it 
without interruption. 

The enterprise is of such a nature that it will continue to require 
for its present conduct and subsequent care, a highly cultivated 
taste, combined with integrity in its pecuniary affairs. 

Whenever its management becomes subject to the changes at- 
tending the success of one political party or the other, the highest 
results of this beneficent work will be lost, and it will pass into 
the control of persons who keep their position only Avhile they 
maintain themselves in the turbid pool of the politics of the city. 

In order, therefore, to obviate this contingent source of embar- 
rassment, and not to imperil the progress and early completion of 



49 [Senat* 

tlie Park tlio committee are of the opinion tliat the Board of Com- 
missioners should be separate and distinct in their control and 
management of the work entrusted to them from the municipal 
government. 

The committee after a careful examination into the subjects re- 
ferred to them, do not hesitate to say, that the Commissioners 
have now among them the elements required for the completion 
and control of their work, superadded to a comprehension acquired 
by nearly four years of experience. 

It would be unwise, and in contravention of the dictates of good 
judgment, to relinquish the services of those who have so far suc- 
cessfully carried on, without remuneration, this important under- 
taking. 

The committee concur in what they believe to be the general 
judgment of the Commissioners, that as the duties have now be- 
come executive, they would be more conveniently performed by 
a less number, and they would respectfully recommend to tho 
Legislature, the reduction of the Board, so that it shall not exceed 
six members, and that the arrangement be etFected in such way as 
will best preserve to it the experience and judgment of the most 
efficient of its present members. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

JNO. McLEOD MURPHY, 
ALLEN MUNROE, 
FRANCIS M. ROTCH, 

Committee. 



APPENDIX. 



♦ 

A. 

Ordinances of the Central Park. 

The Board of Commissioners of the Central Park do ordain as 
follows : 

All persons are forbidden — 

To enter or leave tlie park except by the gateways. 

To climb or walk upon the wall. 

To turn cattle, horses, goats, or swine into the park. 

To carry firearms or to throw stones or other missiles within it. 

To cut, break, or in any wa}' injure or deface the trees, shrubsj 
plants, lurf, or any of the buildings, fences, or other constructions 
upon the park ; 

Or to converse with, or in any way to hinder those engaged in 
its construction. 

Two pounds are hereby established within the Central Park, for 
the impounding of horses, cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, swine, and 
geese found trespassing upon said park. All such animals found 
at large upon the park may be taken by any person or persons, 
and driven or carried to one of the said pounds, and may be kept 
enclosed therein during five days, at the end of which time, if not 
previously claimed, they may be sold at public auction; provided 
that Avithin tAvo days after they shall have been impounded, notice 
of the sale shall have been conspicuously posted in the pound. 

Any person claiming property in such impounded animals be- 
fore the day of sale, may recover the same after suitable proof of 
his or her right thereto, upon payment for each animal other than 
geese, of two dollars and the expenses of keeping, and for geese 
twenty-five cents and the expenses of keeping; the expenses of 
keeping to be reckoned as follows : 

For each horse, dog, or head of neat stock, fifty cents per day. 

For each goat, swine, or sheep, twenty cents per day. 



42 [Senate 

For each goose, five cents per day. 

These cliarges shall be paid to the property 'clerk of the Board, 
and the money thus collected shall by him be handed over, Avithin 
one week, to the treasurer of the Board. 

If, within one month after the sale of any impounded animals, 
their former owner shall appear and claim the same, the treasurer 
shall, after deducting the full amount of the charges provided for 
above, pay over to him the proceeds of their sale; otherwise the 
amount shall be added to the funds of the Board. 

No animal shall travel on any part of the Central Park, except 
upon the " ride," or equestrian road, at a rate exceeding seven 
miles per hour. Persons on horseback shall not travel on the 
" ride," or equestrian road, at a rate exceeding ten miles per hour. 

No vehicle shall be permitted on the "ride," or equestrian road, 
the same being devoted exclusively to equestrians ; nor shall any 
vehicle, horse, or animal of burden, go upon any part of the Cen- 
tral Park except upon the "drive" and other carriage and trans- 
verse roads, and upon such places as are appropriated for car- 
riages at rest. 

No animal or vehicle shall be permitted to stand upon the 
" drive" or carriage roads of the Central Park, or any part there- 
of, to the obstruction of the way, or to the inconvenience of 
travel, nor shall any person upon the Central Park solicit or in- 
vite passengers. 

No hackney coach, carriage, or other vehicle for hire, shall 
stand upon any part of the Central Park for the purpose of taking 
in any other passengers or persons than those carried to the park 
by said coach, carriage, or vehicle. 

No person shall expose any article or thing for sale upon the 
Central Park, except previously licensed by the Board of Com- 
missioners of the Central Park, nor shall any hawking or peddling 
be allowed on the Central Park. 

No omnibus or express wagon, with or without passengers, nor 
any cart, dray, wagon, truck, or other vehicle carrying goods, 
merchandise, manure, soil, or other articles, or solely used for the 
carriage of goods, merchandise, manure, or other articles, shall be 
allowed to enter any part of the Central Park except upon the 
transverse roads. 

No threatening, abusive, insulting, or indecent language shall 
be sxllowed on the Central Park, whereby a breach of the peace 
may be occasioned. 

No person shall be allowed to tell fortunes or play at any game 



No. 18.] 43 

of chance at, or with any table or instrument of gaming, nor to. do 
any obscene or indecent act whatever on the Central Par];. 

In case of an emergency, where life or property are endangered, 
all persons, if required so to do by the superintendent, or any of 
his assistants, shall remove from the portion of the Central Park 
specified by the superintendent or his assistants, and remain off 
the same till permission is given to return. 

The Central Park shall be open daily to the public during the 
months of December, January and February, from seven o'clock 
in the morning until eight o'clock in the evening j during the 
months of March, April, May, June, October and November, from 
six o'clock in the morning until nine o'clock in the evening j and 
during the months of July, August and September, from fivo 
o'clock in the morning until eleven oclock in the evening. 

The superintendent may direct that any of the entrances to the 
paik be closed at any time, and may, on special occasions, also 
direct that the park, or any portion thereof, remain open at other 
times than those above specified. 

No person, other than employees of the Board of Commissioners 
of the Central Park, shall enter or remain in the Central Park, ex- 
cept when it is open, as above provided. 

No dog shall be allowed upon any portion of the Contra! Park, 
unless led by a chain or proper dog-string, not exceeding five feet 
in length, nor shall any person be allowed to lead any quadruped 
(except dogs) in the Central Park. 

No person, except in tlie employ of the Board of Coinmissioners 
of the Central Park, shall bring upon the Central Park any tree, 
shrub, plant, or flower, nor any newly-plucked branch, or portion 
ot a tree, shrub, plant, or flower. 

No person shall bathe, or fish in, or go, or send any animal into 
any of the waters of the park, nor disturb any of the lish, water- 
fowl, or other birds in the park, nor throw, or place any article 
or thing in said waters. 

No person shall fire, discharge, or set off in the Central Park, 
any rocket, cracker, torpedo, squib, balloon, snake, chaser, or 
double-header, nor any fireworks or thing under any other name, 
composed of the same or similar material, or of the same or 
similar character, as the fireworks above specified. 

No person shall place or propel any invalid-chairs or perambu- 
lators upon any portion of the Central Park, except upoi the 
walka. 



44 [Sen- 



ate 



No person shall post or otherwiae affix any bill, notice, or other 
paper, upon any structure or thing within the Central Park, nor 
upon any of the gates or enclosures thereof. 

No person shall, without the consent of the Comptroller of the 
Park, play upon any musical instrument within the Central Park, 
nor shall any person take into, or. carry or display in the Central 
Park, any flag, banner, target, or transparency. 

No military or target company, or civic or other procession 
shall be permitted to parade, drill, or perform upon the Central 
Park, any military or other evolutions or movements. 



B. 

Description of the Central Park, with an explanation of the 
purposes of the work already done upon the site, and of 
that in immediate contemplation. 

Size and Form. 

The Central Park is about two miles and a lialf long, and half 
a mile wide, bounded on the sides by straight parallel " avennes," 
and at the ends by streets crossing these at right angles. It is 
now enclosed by a rough, dry stone wall, four and a half feet high, 
in which there are gates at convenient intervals. The area en- 
closed is about seven hundred and sixty-eight acres, of which one 
hundred and thirty-six acres are occupied by the reservoirs of the 
Croton aqueduct, whence the city is supplied with water. 

The Reservoirs. 

The old reservoir covers thirty acres, and stands upon high 
ground in the centre of the Park. The embankment is faced ex- 
teriorl}'- with dressed stone, and, except where obscured by the 
recent improvements, forms a conspicuous object in the view from 
nearly all points in the southern half of the Park. The new re- 
servoir, (the construction of which was commenced in April, 1858,) 
is irregular in outline, and when completed, will cover one hundred 
and six acres. The reservoirs are not under the control of the 
Park Commission, and are too much elevated for the water within 
them to form a part of its landscapes. 

Divisions of the Park. 

The Park is practically divided by the reservoirs into two 
portions, the northern, or upper park, containing 160 acres, the 
lower park containing 331 acres, and the connecting ground lying 
on both sides of the reservoirs, 135 acres. It will be further sub- 
divided by four thoroughfares, one crossing it between the reser- 
voirs, one at each end of them, and the remaining one near the 
middle of the lower park. These thoroughfares are to be so con- 
structed, by means of tunnels and other contrivances, as not to 



46 [Senate 

interrupt the landscape, or practically effect any division of the 
Park. Roads and walks will cross them in such a manner, that 
when the trees and shrubbery by their side are somewhat grown, 
they will not be seen by the casual observer. They will be no- 
ticeable from no part of the Park, except at their extremities, 
where they unite with the exterior streets, at a higher grade than 
the surface of the Park; appearing as causeways, a few hundred 
feet in length, terminating upon a hill-side. One of these cause- 
ways near the Fifth avenue, at Sixty-fifth street, which is nearly 
completed, is pierced by an archway, in order to accommodate a 
walk. The Park not being directly accessible from tliese covered 
ways, it will be unnecessary to close them at night, when the pub- 
lic are shut out from the Park itself They will furnish the means 
of direct transit across the Park for business purposes, without 
causing inconvenience to its visitors. 

Two of these roads are now nearly completed, one of them 
being already in use. 

Topography of the Site — the Lower Park. 

When purchased by the city, the southern portion of the site 
was already a part of its straggling suburbs, and a suburb more 
filth}^, squalid and disgusting can hardly be imagined. A conside- 
rable number of its inhabitants were engaged in occupations which 
are nuisances in the eye of the law, and forbidden to be carried on 
so near the city. They were accordingly followed at night in 
wretched hovels, half hidden among the rocks, where, also, heaps 
of cinders, brick-bats, potsherds, and other rubbish, were deposit- 
ed by those who had occasion to remove them from the city. 
During the autumn of 1857, three hundred dwellings were removed 
or demolished, by the Commissioners of the Central Park, together 
with several factories, and numerous "swill milk" and hog feed- 
ing establishments. Large tracts partially covered with stagnant 
water were superficially drained, and 10,000 cart loads of loose 
stone, taken from the surface and conveyed to the borders of the 
Park, furnishing mateiials for the construction, during the winter, 
of the present enclosing wall. 

Even after the removal of the buildings of all kinds, and the 
drainage of the pools, the lower park still presented a most con- 
fused and unsightly appearance. Before it had been taken for 
the park, the grading of streets through and across it had been 
commenced, and the rude embankments and ragged rock excava- 
tions thus created, added much to the natural irregularities of its 



No. 18.] 47 

surface. A swampy valley, (wliicli will hereafter be referred to 
as the ''southern valley,") extended from the junction of Seventy- 
geventh street and Eighth avenue to the corner of Fifty-ninth 
street and Fifth avenue. A similar valley (the " central valley,") 
extended from the junction of Seventy-seventh street and Eighth 
avenue to that of Seventy-fourth street and Fifth avenue. Be- 
tween Sixty-seventh and Seventy-second streets, and adjoining 
Fifth avenue, was a tract (the " eastern plateau") of ten acres, 
moderately smooth, and used as a pasture and market garden. A 
similar tract (the " central plateau") of nearly equal dimensions, 
lay midway between the last mentioned one and the west side of 
the park. Both tracts were rocky, and a portion of the smaller 
was a bog. 

The remainder of the lower park was made up of low hills and 
hillocks, the rock of which they were chiefly composed everywhere 
cropping out, sometimes boldly, more generally barely breaking 
through the soil, not unfrequently Avith a considerable surface, 
nearly flat, in the depressions of which a few meagre shrubs and 
gras-ses struggled for existence. With the exception of portions 
of the two swampy valleys and the two ten-acre tracts above men- 
tioned, and about three acres on Sixty-sixth street near Sixth ave- 
nue, there was not an acre in which the great underlying ledge of 
gneiss rock did not, in some form, thrust itself above the surface. 
Probably not a square rood could be found throughout which a 
crowbar could be thrust its length into the ground without en- 
countering rock. Often in places where no rock was visible, it 
has been found, in the progress of the work, to be within from 
three inches to two feet of the surface, for long distances to- 
gether. 

Motive of the Plan. 
The primary purpose of the park is to provide the best practi- 
cable means of healthful recreation for the inhabitants of the 
city, of all classes. It should have an aspect of spaciousness and 
tranquility, Avith variety a d intricacy of arrangement, thereby 
affording the most agreeable contrast to the confinement, bustle, 
and monotonous street division of the city. It should, that is to 
say, as far as practicable, present to the eye a charming rural 
landscape, such as, unless produced by art, is never found within 
the limits of a large town; always remembering, however, that 
facilities and inducements for recreation and exercise are to be 
provided for a concourse of people, and that the object of the 



48 [Senate 

gcencry to be created is only to furtlicr tlie attainment of iLis end 
in the most complete and satisfactory manner. No kind of sport 
can be permitted which would be inconsistent with the general 
method of amusement, and no species of exercise which must be 
enjoyed only by a single class in the community to the diminution 
of the enjoyment of others. Sports, gaiiies and parades, in which 
comparatively few can take part, will only be admissible in cases 
where they may be supposed to contribute indirectly to the plea- 
sure of a majority of those visiting the park. The park is in- 
tended to furnish healthful recreation for the poor and the rich, 
the young and the old, the vicious and the virtuous, so far as each 
can partake therein without infringing upon the rights of others, 
and no further. 

Casual observers have been apt to think the selection of the 
site an unfortunate one, its general ruggedness being rather for- 
bidding, than expressive either of dignity or grace. But this was 
due very much to the absence of soil and foliage. As these are 
supplied, the quality of picturesqueness becomes agreeably promi- 
nent. Grass and shrubbery can be formed anywhere, but rocks, 
and those salient forms of earth-surface which are only found in 
nature Avhere rock exists, can never be imitated on a large scale, 
with perfect success. Although, therefore, it will require a heavy 
expenditure to make the park complete, the final artistic effect 
should be much finer than could have been expected upon a tract 
of the richest and most easily worked soil, the natural outlines of 
which were invariably graceful. 

If the soil, which has been removed from the site of the lower 
park, could be replaced and the primeval forest restored, how- 
ever, — only such walks and drives being constructed through it 
as would make all parts readily accessible,- — the general effect 
would still be unsatisfactory, from the want of breadth and ex- 
panse in the landscapes. It would be — so to speak — monotonous 
in its irregularity, the eye soon wearying of the ceaseless repeti- 
tion of rocks and hillocks, with meagre depressions of surface be- 
tween them. To remedy this natural defect, three considerable 
pieces of ground were chosen by the designers, to be cleared of 
all obstructions, and brought to level, or nearly level surfaces. 

Treatmmt of the Cential Plateau. 
One of these, near the centre of the low«r park, includes the 
central plateau of ten acres heretofore described as somewhat 



No. 18.] 49 

boggy and roclcy, with nearly twenty acres more, lying to the 
westward and southward. The boggy portion lias been filled in 
to an average depth of two feet, and all rocks protruding have 
been removed by blasting; some large ledges of rock adjoining 
have been reduced, and the intervening depressions filled in a simi- 
lar manner ; aU remaining rock surface has then been covered with 
two feet of soil, and thus about thirty acres of level or but slightly 
undulating ground has been formed. This appears as a stretch 
of turf, about a quarter of a mile across, unbroken by a single 
road or foot-path. It may be used upon special occasions, for 
military displays. Ordinarily, it will be like a great country 
green or open common, — a place where children may run about 
and play until they are tired; in nobody's way, and without dan- 
ger of being run over, or injured if they fall. A rocky ridge 
bonnded the plateau on the northeast, which has been reduced 
by blasting sixteen feet, throwing open from opposite points 
the two finest views on the park. The rock and earth removed 
from the ridge, together with that taken from a low hill, a quar- 
ter of a mile to the southward, have been used to fill a swamp 
lying east of the Green, and this being further covered Avith made 
soil to the depth of four feet, an additional level space has been 
obtained, about eighty rods in length and twelve rods in breadth. 
This space has been planted with four rows of American elms, 
forming a broad mall, and is intended to be provided with a foun- 
tain at either end, seats for visitors and accommdations for an or- 
chestra. At its southern extremity, gentle slopes of turf, little 
broken by rocks or trees, will conduct to a lawn-like surface, 
formed upon the smooth ground before described as the eastern 
plateau. Views of an open and tranquil character are thus ob- 
tained, for a quarter of a mile in either direction, terminating in 
a forest obscurity, and the general ruggedness of the park, is, in 
this vicinity, almost obliterated. 

Treatment of the Southern Valley. 
All rocks of insignificant size, and such as would have given 
an appearance of disagreeable barrenness, have been removed from 
the greater portion of the southern valley. Some low parts have 
been filled up, and a level surface fourteen acres in extent thus 
obtained, upon which no trees will be planted, it being intended 
more especially ao a play ground for match games at cricket and 
basfe-ball. Some fine rocks overhang the lower and narrower end 

[Senate^ No. 18.] 4 



50' [Senate 

of the valley, which which will be occupied by a pond of about 
five acres in extent, rendered necessary at this point by other than 
picturesque considerations. 

Treatment of the Central Valley. 

The western part of the central valley has been made more spa- 
cious by the removal of the smaller rqcks, and the earth surround- 
ing the larger, so as to form a shallow basin of irregular outline. 
This basin will be almost entirely occupied by a pond, twenty 
aci-es in extent, the view across which, from the most favorable 
point, will be of considerable breadth, and entirely unbroken for 
upwards of a quarter of a mile. 

This is the pond which, having been each year filled in the au- 
tumn, has afforded welcome accommodation to many thousand 
skaters. 

The Ramble, the Water Terrace, and the Bell Tower. 
To the north and east of the pond is a broad hill-side, broken 
by ledges of rock and bestrewn with boulders. It furnishes an 
interesting picture viewed from almost any point, but particu- 
larly so from the end of the mall ; on the descent from which to 
the pond an oi'namental stone terrace is under construction. At 
the highest and most remote part of the hill, as seen from this 
terrace, a small tower will be erected, and this will be the vista- 
point of the avenue of the mall. Looking northward from the 
teri'ace it will be the only artificial structure in sight, (the reser- 
voir being "planted out," and the rising ground on the right and 
left shutting off the city.) The whole breadth of the park will 
be brought into this landscape, the foreground of which will be 
enriched with architectural decorations and a fountain, the mid- 
dle distance, composed of rocks, Avith evergreens and dark shrubs 
interspersed among them, reflected in the pond ; and the distance 
extended into intricate obscurity by carefully planting shrubs of 
lighter and more indistinct foliage among and above the gray 
rocks of the back ground. This hill-side, being isolated in posi- 
tion, is crossed by no road, but entirely laid out Avith secluded 
walks, bordered by shrubbery, and the work upon it was so far 
advanced during the first year's operations that, already the last 
summer, it proved a very satisfactory resort to the public. Some 
of the most promising parts of it, however, are as yet but mea- 
grely furnished, and whatever charms it has, will, in a few years, 
be immeasurably increased. The bell tower, at the summit, offers 



No. 18. J 61 

the best position from "which to obtain a bird's-eye view of the 
Avhole park, and of the work going on within it. It is a tempo- 
rary structure, used to transmit orders to the officers of the work, 
by signal, and is open to visitors during the day. 

The principal landscape features. of the lower park, so far as 
they are matters of immediate construction, have thus been in- 
dicated. 

Plan of the Roads and Walks. 

The park will be chiefly valuable as furnishing a place for 
agreeable exercise, (or, as the phrase is, " taking the air,") as a 
relief fi'om the confinement of houses and streets. This will be 
obtained by the mass of the community, by riding, driving, or 
walking, as best suits the inclination or means of each individual. 

In order to the highest enjoyment of either of these modes of 
exercise, each needs to be pursued in a great degree separately 
from the others. A carriage coming directly upon the course of 
a pedestrian or of a man on horseback, is often an annoyance, 
sometimes positively dangerous. A horseman riding close upon 
a man on foot, on the same path, will unpleasantly disturb him, 
even without coming in direct contact. The mere coysciousness 
that one's path may be crossed by a horse or carriage, causes 
with some a feeling of anxiety. The sunken and tunnelled street 
thoroughfares across the park were planned to remove what 
would otherwise have been a ceaseless annoyance. Extending 
the application of the same expedient, several miles of gravelled 
walks have been laid out, carried by arched passages under the 
drives when iiecessary, by means of which all parts of the lower 
park may be traversed on foot, Avithout encountering a single 
carriage or horseman. The rides are everywhere in like manner 
made independent of the drives, but horsemen can enter the car- 
riage-roads if they choose. Walks also generally accompany the 
drives, on one or both sides, within conversing distance. 

The principal roads, as will be seen on the map, are carried 
near the exterior, yet at such a distance that the boundary may 
easily be obscured from them. 

Treatment of the Upper Park. 

The natural surface of the upper park is much more homoge- 
neous than that of the lower. The plan is of corresponding sim- 
plicity. Near the base of the rocky ridge upon which the north- 
ern embankment of the new reservoir abuts, a transverse road 



52 [Senate 

will cross the Park on a similar plan with those below. North 
of this, extending to One Hunclred and Third street, and midway 
between the east and west boundaries of the Park, two connected 
plateaus of tiirf,*amonnting t'o about eighteen acres, have, duj^ng 
the last year, been formed, (that being all the space which the 
rocky ledges leave available.) The roads and Avalks will pass 
along the more broken ground to the east, west and north of 
these. The rivulet in McGowan's pass will be dammed so as to 
form a pool, at the west end of which the carriage road will be 
carried across the valley upon a stone bridge of three arches. 
The mode of laying out the grounds forming the extreme north- 
ern portion of the Park has not been definitely decided upon, on 
account of the prospect of an extension of its limits in this direc- 
tion, and the establishment of an observatory on the bluff, 

Ihe arboretum. 

The explanation of the plan which has thus far been given, 18 
intended to enable the public to understand more readily the 
value of the work which has already been done, and the nature 
of that for which expenditure will principally be made during- 
the ensuiiTg season. 

It is further intended to introduce an arboretum, in which, 
within a space of about sixty acres, will be arranged in as natural 
a m.anner as possible, consistently with convenience for study, 
specimens of every tree and shrub which can be grown upon the 
site in the open air. The hillside and valley between the Fifth 
avenue and the east drive of the upper Park is reserved for this 
purpose. 

In the general planting of the Park, it is hoped that every kind 
of tree which will flourish in the climate may be introduced. 

Wi7iter drive. 

It is intended to arrange along the west side, between Seventy- 
second and One Hundred and Second streets, a winter drive, about 
a mile and a half in length, planted somewhat thickly with ever- 
greens, deciduous trees and shrubs being introduced only so far 
as necessary to avoid a monotonous and gloomy effect. Open 
glades of grass will break the uniformity of these plantations of 
evergreens, as the effect aimed at is not so much that of a drive 
through a thick forest crowded with tall spindling trees, as 
through a richly wooded country, in which single trees and 
copses have had plenty of space for developing their distinclliive 
characteristics to advantage. 



No. 18.1 53 . 

Planting. 
The last remark applied to the general intention of planting 
the Park, in -which American trees of the stateliest cliaracter, 
standing somewhat openly, are designed to predominate where- 
ever the nature of the surface will permit. The general rugged- 
ness of the site, however, will lead to a more liberal use of ever- 
greens, shrubbery, and especially of climbing and trailing plants, 
than is customary in European parks. 



S3 



c. 

To the Hon. John McLeod Murphy, 

Chairman of Committee of Investigation of Central Park: 

Sir — In pursuance of the appointment of the committee to ex- 
amine the works in the Central Park, dated October 16, 1860, I 
have carefully examined the finished part, as Avell as that in pro- 
gress of construction. The time allowed for the investigation 
being comparatively very short, considering the magnitude, ex- 
tent and diversity of those works and structures, and as it would 
also be too voluminous and lengthy to refer to all the details, I 
therefore condense the facts as to the main points, commencing 
with the drainage, as the most important part for the preservation 
of the whole. 

1. The agricultural drainage in the Central Park, is effectually 
and satisfactoril}^ executed, although there wag some very unfa- 
vorable ground required to be drained. The water thus collected 
through the extensive branches of the drain-tile, runs through 
vitrified pipes, of proper diminsions, and is purified in filters of 
proper construction, before entering, as feeders, into the respect- 
ive lakes. The whole drainage lays below the penetration of frost, 
and has its proper inclination and dimensions. 

2. The superficial drainage is also done in a systematic and ap- 
proved manner, and the capacity, respective distance and location 
of the silt basins so arranged that even the heaviest rain will not 
produce any serious damage. As both those systems of drainage 
seem to be sufficient and adequate to the present want, they still 
•will prove more perfect afier the completion of the park. 

3. The roads are constructed in a very good and substantial man- 
ner, and nothing seems to have been spared to make them as perfect 
as possible; their proper drainage, the pressing of the road-bed, 
the foundation laid according to the rules of the two best road 
systems, will keep them hard and dry, and involve but small out- 
lay for repairs. The width of the roads is in due proportion to 



No. 18.] 55 

the number and class of visitors; the curbs and gutters are well 
set, and the grades and curvatures are graceful. 

4. The bridges already erected, and those now building, are of 
the most substantia] and perfect character; their style of archi- 
tecture identical with the idea and system of a grand park. They, 
too, are properly drained above and below, and built of jSrst-rate 
material almost throughout. Some of them are rather stronger 
than the occasion actually requires; and also the laying of the 
iron bridge across the bating pond, on an abutment with rollers, 
could have been dispensed with. It is very natural that these 
many and splendid superstructures present, to the public in gene- 
ral, a somewhat stiff and artiflcial appearance. It is only with 
the growth of the trees, and the development of the landscape 
that their effect will be full}'- appreciated. 

5. The system for conducting and distributing water for irriga- 
tion, fountains and watering places in iron and cement pipes is a 
good and economical one, and of ample capacity for contingencies. 
But it is my opinion, that a park of such magnitude, with such 
costly structures, ought to have its own and independent supply 
of water, and not draw it from the Croton aqueduct at the future 
expense of an increased population. There are also some eleva- 
ted grounds in the northern part of the park which cannot be sup- 
plied from the reservoir. 

G. The works are carried on under efficient and proper super- 
vision, and under a strict discipline; the best order and system 
prevails in the different offices as well as on the grounds, and in 
that respect there is no other public work in the United States to 
be compared with the Central Park. 

7. Finally, I would state, that the plan and laying out of the 
park, the design, location and proper construction of the four 
transverse roads, the division of roads and drives, rides and 
walks, the availing of natural propensities, the graceful grades and 
curvatures, the magnificent bridges, beautiful lakes and picturesque 
landscape, do as much honor to the taste, refinement and wealth 
of the metropolis, as credit to its designer and executor. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

JULIUS KELLERSBERGER, 

Civil Engineer. 



6€ [Senate 

New York, JVovemher 23, 1860. 
City and County of JVew York, ss : 

Julius Kellersberger, civil engineer, being sworn, says, that tho 
foregoing statement made by Lim, is in all respects correct and 
true. 

JULIUS KELLERSBERGER, 
Sworn to, before me, this ? 
23d November, 1860. y 

Geo. W. Warner, Corner of T)eeds. 



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